


When I'm Near to You

by ChelseaIBelieve



Series: Unsolicited Advice (12 Days of Hockeymas) [5]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Insecurity, M/M, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-19
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-02 05:31:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2801330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChelseaIBelieve/pseuds/ChelseaIBelieve
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eddie's feeling a little insecure, but a Christmas surprise is all it takes to cheer him up.</p><p>Can be read as part of the series or as a stand-alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. When I'm Near to You

@eddielack: trying to figure out how to spend my 5 days off in a row!! any ideas???

_I bet you’re going to spend it all in bed with Lu, right? Nothing like five days with no commitments to rekindle the LDR, right? ;)_

**uhhhh who is this?**

_Patrick Kane._

**how did you get my number???**

_I have my ways. Anyways, you and Lu. I saw your tweet. This is me butting in to give you my opinion that you should definitely spend it together, if you’re not planning on it already._

**don’t worry we are:)**

_Good. I just wanted to make sure. See you in February!_

**wait! I have a question and you might be able to help**

_Okay, shoot. (Or, well, don’t shoot, because you’re a goalie, hahahahaha)_

**during the lockout did you feel worried about your relationship with Tazer when you were separated??? I’m worried that I’m holding him back from something better or like it doesn’t mean as much to him. I feel like I’m being super clingy all the time so I’ve been trying to let him do his own thing but it still hurts**

_Tazer and I weren’t dating, but I don’t know. It sounds pretty normal, but I think you should talk to Lu about it._

**oh I thought you two were together. that’s actually why I was okay with admitting to things with Lu when you asked**

_We are now. We just weren’t then. Yeah, definitely talk to him. Tell him that you’re worried and maybe think of some ways you could work together on not worrying about that stuff. Maybe he’s worried, too. Or has his own set of concerns._

**okay I’ll do that. thanks Kaner:)**

* * *

_ Hey, Lu. It’s Kaner. Listen, you might want to talk to your stork. He’s a little upset about some stuff. _

Is he okay??

_Yeah, it just sounds like he’s doubting your relationship. I was harassing him (nicely, chill out) about spending Christmas with you and he was asking if what he was feeling is normal in long-distance relationships. Just talk to him, okay?_

How did you find out about us not spending Christmas together? I wanted to spend Christmas with him, but he said to spend it with my family. Was it Deadspin? Ughhhh

_Wait, you’re not? He said you were?_

I wanted to but he was going on about not holding each other back from our families and stuff. I don’t know. He’s been acting a little weird lately and I’ve been worried he was going to break up with me.

_Okay, no. I think he’s just trying to let you have space by doing that, but I’d be willing to bet that he’s not happy about it. Here’s what you’re going to do, okay? I have a plan._

* * *

Eddie sighed as he woke up alone on the Tuesday morning before Christmas. He frowned at the empty side of the bed for a few minutes before getting up and leaving his room.

In the kitchen, he found a mug of coffee and a plate of breakfast. He stared at it curiously before picking them both up and walking towards the living room. The Christmas tree had been turned on and the sparse few presents from family that sat under it had been joined by what looked like at least fifteen more wrapped parcels.

He set his coffee and plate down on the coffee table next to another plate and mug, curious and confused. Only a few people had a copy of his key and he wondered if this was some weird attempt to cheer him up from one of his teammates because they knew he was sad he wouldn’t be seeing Lu for Christmas.

There were ornaments on the tree that he’d never seen before and he leaned in close to see what some of them were, but a pair of strong arms wrapped around his waist.

“Merry christmas, baby.” Lu’s warm voice whispered in his ear. “I love you.”

“What are you doing here?” Eddie asked, sinking back into the embrace. Lu turned him around and kept his arms tight around Eddie’s waist before speaking again.

“I love my family, I really do, but there’s only one person I want to spend Christmas with.”

“I don’t want to hold you back from seeing them.” Eddie looked away, his eyes catching again on the ornaments.

“Well, see, they can come visit me pretty much whenever, but I have this super fantastic boyfriend that I can only ever see when our schedules line up, which is pretty much never during the season. If you’re that worried about it though, next year we can invite everyone over and have both of our families together. And I’ll only last a few more years, let’s be real, so after that, it’ll be much easier.”

“Plan on keeping me around that long? Won’t want to trade me in for an even younger model?” Eddie chirped him with a smile.

“Nah, I think you’ll do.” He kissed Eddie softly before nodding to the tree. “Florida isn’t very Christmasy, so I brought over all of my ornaments. We can just pack them up with yours after Christmas.”

“I already mailed all of your presents to your house, though.” Eddie frowned, the presents under the tree grabbing his attention again.

“That’s fine. I’ve got you. That’s my present.”

“Wow, sappy.”

“Feel like going to the bedroom for something significantly less sappy?” Lu suggested, taking a few steps in the direction of Eddie’s room and waggling his eyebrows.

“Mmm, I don’t know. Can you still manage to rock my world without being sappy, old man?” Eddie grinned and pretended to debate for a moment before following.

* * *

When they stumbled happily out of the bedroom almost an hour later, their food and coffee had gone stone cold. Eddie swept everything back to the kitchen to warm back up in the microwave while Lu turned on Netflix to find a Christmas movie.

They pressed against each other as they ate the breakfast that Lu had made when he’d arrived, sharing smiles every few bites and getting distracted from the movie.

“I’m really glad you’re here.” Eddie told him after they were finished eating. His fears had mostly subsided after talking about things and he felt perfectly content. “Don’t listen to me next time I tell you to go spend your free time somewhere else. I’ve been missing you like crazy.”

“Next month, we play each other twice, you know. After that, it’s only a few more months until the off-season. We have to decide where we want to spend it.”

“You can choose where we spend most of it, but you should come home with me for part of it.”

“I suppose I can do that.” Lu grinned and nudged him playfully. “If I do, it might get out and I don’t think people will believe our flirting on twitter is joking anymore if that’s the case.”

“Are you okay with that?”

“Let’s do it.” Lu kissed him, hot and searing, leaving the movie running forgotten in the background.

 


	2. I Can Keep a Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally posted as a separate story, meant to be part of a summer series I planned on doing. Unfortunately, with a cross-country move (goodbye Michigan, hello Dallas) and the death of my grandfather, it ended up not happening. So, I'm combining it with the original story as a chaptered work instead. I have no immediate plans to add to it, but it may happen at some point in the future. :)

“Where are you at?”

“What, no ‘hello?’ No ‘thank you for flying to Oslo and then driving six hours just to throw off suspicion?’” Lu teased, chuckling to himself.

“Hello, thank you, I love you, where are you at?” Eddie rushed out in one long stream.

“I just finished getting the car and I’m headed your way now. I should be there around noon.”

“We’re having dinner with my dad tonight, so that’s good.”

“I was hoping to have you all to myself tonight.” Lu dropped his voice low.

“It’s just dinner. We have the rest of the day and night to ourselves. Keep it in your pants.”

“You’ve been here for two weeks without me. I’m dying. I can’t even focus on anything else.”

“Oh, well, I better let you go then so you can drive safely. I can’t wait to see you when you get here!”

“Can’t wait to see you either, Stork.”

* * *

Three sex-, food-, and family-filled days after Lu arrived in Sweden, Eddie’s phone rang. He slipped out from the bed, leaving his cuddly, mostly-asleep boyfriend to whine his annoyance.

“Hello?” Eddie answered nervously, seeing his agent’s number. He stepped out onto the balcony to talk.

Lu watched him through half-lidded eyes as he paced back and forth outside the door. He stopped pacing a few times, but he never managed to last long before starting up again. The longer the conversation went on, the more curious and nervous Lu got, wondering who he was on the phone with.

Finally, Eddie nodded a few more times and hung up before stepping back into the bedroom.

Lu lifted an eyebrow curiously, but Eddie just climbed onto the bed and curled back into his side quietly.

It took Eddie another twenty minutes before he spoke, but Lu didn’t mind, content just to let Eddie snuggle into him and hold him tight.

“That was my agent.” Eddie finally broke the silence. “They traded me.”

Eddie fell silent again and Lu took a few moments to gather his thoughts before speaking. They both knew this was a possibility, but had danced around the topic, so Lu wasn’t entirely sure how Eddie was feeling about it.

“Where to?” Lu decided to just ask the most obvious question first.

“Carolina.” Eddie let out a long, shuddering breath.

“How are you feeling, babe?”

“Happy, but sad. I loved Vancouver and I didn’t want to leave, but at the same time, I think it’s a good change.”

“Yeah?” Lu prompted him to continue when he stopped talking.

“You know how it is there. There’s some great fans, most of them are, but it’s hard and it’s crazy and it can be so frustrating. I just- I felt like I did good this year. I hoped they’d keep me. I thought I did good enough to stay.”

“Are you saying they traded me away because I’m not good enough?” Lu teased lightly, hoping to get a smile out of Eddie.

“Oh, shut up. You know you’re a whole different story.” Eddie rolled his eyes, but gave a small smile. “I don’t know. I was just hoping for something different, I guess.”

“At least you’re closer to me now.” Lu pointed out, poking Eddie in the side.

“That’s not saying much. I looked it up. The Canucks and Panthers are literally the furthest possible distance from each other in the NHL. No one else is further apart.”

“Just think of it. Direct two hour flights instead of eight hours on connecting flights.”

“As long as you’re the one paying with that ridiculous contract of yours.”

“Oh, I’m just your sugar daddy now?” Lu ran his hand up Eddie’s side and they both fell quiet for another few minutes.

“It is going to be amazing. We’ll see each other so much more often. We can actually fly back and forth when our off-days line up.”

“Or even if they don’t. I’ll fly up and watch you play if I have the day off and you’ve got a home game.”

“Gonna wear my jersey?”

“Of course.”

“Hold up a sign?”

“I’ll paint it myself with glitter and it’ll say ‘Marry Me, Eddie Lack’ in huge letters.”

“Oh yeah?” Eddie sucked in a breath at Lu’s words, even if they weren’t being said in the way he wanted.

“Way better than asking you over dinner, right? Where’s the fun in that?” Lu grinned over at his boyfriend playfully.

“You know, that might actually be the tipping point to the media realizing we actually are together.”

“I don’t know. If they haven’t figured it out yet, I can’t imagine what would actually convince them.”

“Maybe we should go out and see the sights around here together.” Eddie brought up, which they’d discussed but seemed to agree on not doing so they didn’t raise suspicions. It was the same reason Lu had flown into Oslo, hoping that if it came out, it would just look like he was going on holiday.

“Is that something you want to do?” Lu’s voice turned serious. “You know if people see us, what that’ll mean. All joking aside, there wouldn’t be any coming back from it.”

“We talked about it at Christmas, remember? I didn’t care then and I don’t care now. I’m not ashamed. Are you still okay with it?”

“Come on. Let’s get up and get dressed so we can go make all the traveling fiasco I went through pointless.” Lu slid out of bed and held a hand out to help Eddie up.

“Hey! I just thought we were still trying to keep it mostly hush-hush.”

“You just wanted to make me work for it, but that’s okay. It’s worth it.” Lu teased before pressing a kiss to Eddie’s lips and stepping away to hop in the shower.

Before following him, Eddie picked up his phone and opened Twitter. He quickly typed out “This also mean we are closer to each other right?” and followed it with a string of emojis before tagging Lu and hitting send.

 


End file.
